Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Belgium Bound

Today Jim made his 4th trip to the airport in less than a week! The last three times he spent the day playing for travelers passing through. 

But today he was there as a traveler.  He and our daughter Jami headed to Brussels where they will be spending 3 days with Carlton and Shannon Deal who are ministering in an international church and directing a global ministry, Serve the City.  Through this ministry Christ's love is communicated in practical ways as volunteers are organized to reach out to those in need in their city. Serve the City, which started in Brussels in 2005, is now active or starting in 74 cities around the world. 


Jim will be exploring the possibility of Proclaim partnering in a project to assist this ministry, and Jami is interested in learning about a missions internship that they sponsor in the summer. A couple of ministry events will be going on this weekend, so they will really have a chance to see the action first hand. 


This will also be a time to reconnect in Belgium 20+ years after our time there at the Belgian Bible Institute and then with Anno Domini. Please pray for Jim and Jami during this time and for wisdom and God's leading about future ministry opportunities in Belgium. 
  

Thursday, February 10, 2011

On to Belarus

From February 20 to March 7 a 14-member Next Exit team will be in the beautiful country of Belarus.  There we will  partner with and support the work of Spasenie, a Belarusian band whose name means salvation.

We have found no other group of musicians whose model for ministry so closely matches that of Proclaim.  For years this band has regularly had hit songs on the pop charts of Belarus that boldly express God’s message of hope and faith. Through their work, churches have been established and strengthened, a community center has been built which services their city, and many other types of ministry have been launched. 


Next Exit is invited to tour with them doing joint concerts in Belarus and neighboring Ukraine.  Additionally, we will be helping with a music festival and teaching some master classes for young musicians and technicians with an eye toward eventually establishing a music training center.


One of the things Jim is doing to help raise funds for the tour is playing for tips in the courtyard at the Jacksonville airport. He is permitted to have a sign indicating that all tips are going for a mission project and display information about the project that people can take. Hopefully it will stimulate some interesting conversations!

If you care to add a tax deductible contribution to the Belarus “tip jar” you are more than welcome! Just click DONATE on this blog.